Claritin leads purchase consideration

When allergy sufferers have had enough sneezing and watery eyes, the medical brand they are most likely to consider purchasing is Claritin.

Despite a brief period in mid-April when it was nearly tied with Zyrtec, Claritin has remained ahead of its rivals in purchase consideration as spring allergy season has swept in full force. Zyrtec faded from top consideration since mid-April to levels just ahead of Allegra, which also experienced short-term but modest gains in purchase consideration from mid-March through the present.

While all three allergy remedies have seen steadily increasing ad awareness since the beginning of the year, Claritin pulled away from its rivals over time. Claritin went from 18% of the U.S. population 18+ being aware of its ads to 34% since the beginning of the year. The other two brands grew more modestly by comparison: Zyrtec’s ad awareness increased from 13% to 21%, and Allegra took a bigger jump from 9% to 19%.

Claritin received a double push from parent Merck this year: a word-of-mouth campaign across video and social media through the BzzAgent agency, followed by a family-driven campaign led by spokesperson Elisabeth Hassleback.

Zyrtec teamed up with actress Debra Messing this past spring to promote its prevention of “Allergy Face,” the beauty challenges that go along with spring fever symptoms.

Allegra recruited WNBA legend Lisa Leslie to develop their “Allegra Outdoor Challenge,” a series of workout tips to help show families that seasonal allergies don’t have to stop them from getting outdoors and having fun.

Allegra, Claritin and Zyrtec were measured with two of YouGov BrandIndex’s measurements: 1) Purchase Consideration, which asks respondents: "When you are in the market next to purchase this product, from which of the following brands would you consider purchasing?”; and 2) Ad Awareness, which asks respondents: "Which of the following brands have you seen an advertisement for in the past two weeks?” Results were screened for adults age 18+.